No one can ever know
by TheCloakedShadow
Summary: Azzy Zamora has a secret power, that even she doesn't know the limits of. Her mother is murdered and she is sent to her Godfather Albus Dumbledore for protection. He decides the best way to keep her safe is for her to start attending Hogwarts in her fifth year. But what will happen when she meets the Marauders, and falls for someone she knows could never love her the way she does?
1. Chapter 1

Life. Death.

Life. Death. Is there really much difference? I hope there is. I hope in death, no one's feelings can get hurt. I hope I forget. I hope they forgive. I know though, I know I'll never make those same mistakes again. There's a saying… Mistakes are made to be learnt from. It's true, but even if you learn from them, it doesn't change the damage they cause. The damage can't be undone. The damage I've caused. The damage that will cause my murder. All I know is that I will never set foot here again.

My mother was never afraid of death, and neither am I. It's just another step in the cycle. In movies, there's always those speeches, those last words heroes mutter as they fall into darkness. This is no movie, and I am definitely no hero. But I do have some words. Three words, counting the apostrophe. And I say them to the marauders.

"I'm sorry."

Chapter 1: Start a new

Azalea Zamora, a fifteen year-old girl lived with her mother in the middle of nowhere 1968. Many would call her beautiful, with waist length black hair paired with a long jaw-length fringe over one eye, ocean coloured eyes and cherry lips. Her pale skin complimented each of these features, and her nose shaped perfectly. She was also tall, slim and athletic, but she wasn't very girly, her personality was more like a boy. She lived away from the world, not to come into contact with anyone. You see, she was special, just like her mother. She was a witch. There are many witches and wizards in the world, but she was still special out of them all. She was a seer. Evil forces are forever trying to get hold of this power, which was why her mother hid her away. But this came at a disadvantage. Though she was safe, she didn't have a life. It was always, practice your magic, inside and out of sight. This is her story.

"Azzy, my baby, go to the cupboard, get inside, and don't utter a single word to anyone. Don't be scared. You don't need to be." My mother tells me. I immediately see the worry in my mother's pretty face, and do as I'm told. I sit inside the cupboard for a few minutes, anxiously waiting. I know this was no ordinary situation. In all fifteen years of my life, I have never seen my mother look… scared. I wait in complete silence, making sure I'm not breathing loudly or anything. And then I hear it. The high pitched scream, a thud on the floor and then I feel myself disappear into nothing.

I open my eyes to see myself in a completely new place. It looks like… well… an extraordinary office. I haven't been anywhere but my home for all my life, but I still know this is extraordinary. There's an antique wooden varnished desk, with an old-fashioned lamp on it, and many odd shaped ornaments and charms from around the world. The rest of the room is like a library, full of different coloured books on many different subjects. Also, in a bird cage, sits a beautiful bird with brightly coloured feathers. I know from seeing one before, it was a phoenix.

"Oh my. Who may you be?" I just realise there is a man with dark black hair turning grey, standing in the corner of the room.

"Azalea Zamora." I say shakily. The man let out a sad sigh, then walked to sit behind his desk.

"I hoped this day would never come. My dear, I am Albus Dumbledore, transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry." He says kindly.

"Do you know my mother? Where is she?" I ask worried, though I already know the answer. I always knew this was going to happen.

"Yes, and I'm afraid… she was just killed. In which an old enchantment kicked into place and sent you here. I am now your guardian. Your mother, Clare Zamora as you know was a seer. Many people desire the power to see into the future."

"I can. Is that good or bad?" I ask my face contorting even more into fear.

"Good. Azalea, you need to know, no one except me has known of your existence. Your mother died today to make sure you were safe. Do you understand that?"

"Yes. I've been prepared for it all my life, though I didn't know it would happen so soon." I say shakily. "My mum told me I was to carry on with my life if this happened… what do I do?"

"Ah, well, being a hogwarts professor myself, I can ensure you that life here, until you graduate of course. I might as well start from the beginning…"

"Welcome to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. You are a witch! Here you will learn to develop your skills, but also control them. Hogwarts, is a boarding school. You will sleep in a dormitory with girls your own age in your house. Your house is your family in Hogwarts, you must care for every member of it, unconditionally. There are four houses, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffindor. You my child, have grown up away from everything, which I have to say may have not been for the best. However, you will not be boarding here, you will live here, in the castle with me. This castle is your home. You will have a suite of your own with some living quarters as well."

"My dear, life here will be very hard adjusting to, do you think you're ready?" Dumbledore asks kindly.

"Yes, I think so." I say, a little overpowered, but confident, knowing my mother wouldn't have shown it.

"You will be studying Charms, Transfiguration, Defence against the dark arts, Potions, Herbology and some other subjects of which you chose." Dumbledore says. "For you, I suggest the ones your mother did, Care of magical creatures, Ancient runes and astronomy. I will go with you to London to get your school supplies."

"Do you think I'll ever go back?" I ask suddenly, my mind on other things. Dumbledore pauses before saying:

"No, I'm afraid not." I nod and look up. "Do I tell other people about me?"

"Not about being a seer. That would make your life most dangerous." Dubledore says concerned. I finish with a nod.

To think that I won't just be stepping into a world I have no knowledge about, but more importantly, the people. Albus Dumbledore was the third person I've ever met. The first was my mother, the second was a boy at the age of 4. I bumped into him when she had snuck into the forest around my mother's hut, and we became friends, just. But that boy wasn't normal. And I have to find a way to feel… at home.

In London, which I found very interesting, Albus bought me all my new school books from a shop called Flourish and Blots. We went to what I thought to be a very odd shop called Madam Malkins and he bought me black school robes and a school cloak with a silver fastening. After we got me school equipment, and then went to Ollivander's to get me a wand. I liked Mr Ollivander very much, and was very pleased when he handed me a 10 inch maple wood wand, with a phoenix tail feather. I walked out feeling quite bright and cheerful.

"That's all your school supplies done! I believe you need to get new clothes and some soap and a hairbrush of such. I will wait in the leaky cauldron for you, be sure not to wander too far!" Albus says. I first went to some simple clothes shop in which I bought some dark blue trousers, some black jeans and another pair in grey. I also bought a dark blue sweater, an oversized cream sweater and a simple white t-shirt. I bought a few more clothes and picked up some plain white socks and some underwear. I found a shoe shop where I bought some ballet flats, some trainers, and two pairs of boots.

At a drug store I found down the lane I bought soap, a hair brush, some body spray, a moisturiser, a bit of make-up and some refresh spray. I was quite a basic girl at the age of fifteen, but then, I hadn't really been to a shop, or had a need for make-up till now. After, I bought a nice warm black leather motorcycle jacket and a navy trenchcoat.

"I'm done!" I say, tumbling into the leaky cauldron and spotting Albus chatting to the barman.

"Well done my dear. I can see your mother in you from what you have bought." He says looking down at me.

"Thank you so much for everything you've done for me, considering you hadn't met me before." I say gratefully.

"Well, as your technical Godfather, it is my duty. Plus, I never got my way in life, and have had no children of my own." Albus replies happily. "Remember to refer to me as Albus."

I got into Gryffindor, and though I have already started to feel happy, considering my mother's death, I am not looking forward to meeting new people. I am walking along a corridor on the way to what I hope is the Gryffindor common room, as the castle was so big I have already managed to get lost twice.

"What do we have here? A newbie?" I turn around as I hear the sneering voice. I see a greasy black haired boy, I guess my age, with a taller and older white blonde boy with smouldering grey eyes.

"Um…" I don't know what to say.

"Don't like to speak huh?" The blonde boy says meanly. "Maybe we can loosen her tongue…" he adds with a wicked smile. He draws his wand along with the black haired boy. My eyes flash with fear and…

"Expelliarmus!" I hear two boys voices shout in chorus and the black haired boy and the blonde one's wands fly out their hands and hit the wall.

"Scram Malfoy, Snivellus!" says one of my saviours. The boys run with just as much fear as they had inflicted on me.

"Are you all right?" The two boys are my age, one with scruffy dark brown hair, round glasses and pale skin, the other with jaw length shiny black hair and blue eyes. I nod, still finding myself at a loss for words.

"Its okay, those guys are just really mean. Who are you? Do you go to school here?" The brown haired one says reassuringly enough to coax me into speaking.

"Azalea. And yes I do. I was making my way to the Gryffindor tower."

"Funny James, I don't remember ever seeing her, and she looks our age." The black haired one says to the other.

"Neither Sirius."

"I only just joined. Albus Dumbledore's my Godfather. I was sent here when an old enchantment took place after my mother died. I live here now." I say, still a little self-conscious of my words.

"We'll take you to Gryffindor tower, you can explain later after you've unpacked." The one called Sirius says, picking up half of my bags, James taking the other half. Through my protest that I could carry at least some bags, they take me to Gryffindor tower, mutter the password and take me inside.

I feel like I am going to faint. The common room is filled with girls and boys of all ages, all of them looking at me. I start breathing heavily, and look to James and Sirius, who had dumped my bags at a spiral stairwell.

"Thanks." I mutter as fast as I could and hurry up the stairs with my bags and into the first room up the stairs.

Once inside, I take a deep breath. Then, after a minute of relief, I start to look around my room. There is a four poster bed with navy sheets and net curtains. In the corner there is a large but simple wooden desk and in the corner a bookshelf. Then there is a set of drawers and a smaller hanging space. On my bed lies some school uniform with scarlet piping to symbolise Gryffindor. It's a nice big room, nice and spacious. I also find my bathroom was very nice. It has a shower, a toilet and a sink, all nice and shiny. I unpack all my stuff, putting my school supplies under my bed. Once done, I decide to wait a bit till I leave, so decide to read Hogwarts a history.

"Come on Azzy, you're going to have to do it sometime." I say to myself, twisting the door handle. Slowly I open the door and immediately hear the chatter from the common room. I take a deep breath and slowly walk down the stairs. Even as I get to the common room, I have my eyes on the floor. I slowly look up to see most of the students looking at me, though some carry on talking. I look around the room, a bit stuck. Is it too late for me to turn round and run for my room?

"Hey! Azalea, over here!" I hear a slightly familiar voice and see the two boys from earlier lounging on the sofa in front of the fire. I slowly make my way to them and Sirius sits up so I can sit next to him.

"So, why are you joining now? You're fourteen right?" James asks, Sirius ushering the rest of the room to go back to their knitting.

"I was home schooled by my mum up till now, as I said when she died I was sent to Albus. And I just turned fifteen last week." I say nervously.

"Remus! Over here, come meet the new girl!" Sirius shouts to a scruffy looking boy. The boy comes up, blushing slightly.

"Hi, I'm Remus Lupin, you are?" The boy says kindly.

"Azalea Zamora. I just started school here." I say, shaking his hand.

"Yeah, James filled me in."

"Oh yeah, I'm James Potter, and this is Sirius Black." James says. Smiling, I shake James' hand but when it comes to Sirius he takes my hand and plants a kiss on it his eyes twinkling with mischief.

"So, Azalea Zamora… a bit of a mouthful… would anything else do?" Sirius ask, casually putting his arm round me.

"Azzy. Who were those boys earlier?" I breath.

"Lucius Malfoy and darling Severus Snape!" Sirius jokes. "I would stand clear of them." I nod.

"So, are you any good at magic?" Remus asks.

"I don't know. Sirius and James were actually the fourth people I've ever met, not including Snape and Malfoy." They all gape at me, not so much Sirius.

"When you say you were home-schooled… you really meant it didn't you." James says. I shrug.

"I guess we really were your saviours…" Sirius says cocky.

"Um, I think I could've handled myself once I'd found my voice…" I say, a bit annoyed at being told I needed a saviour.

"Oh really, hit me with something!" Sirius says. I got my wand out and hit him with a pleasure spell. He immediately relaxes and start to close his eyes.

"You know a pleasure spell? That's really advanced!" Remus murmurs.

I talk with the three boys known as the Marauders till dinner time. As they went off, I went and changed into a sweater and some trousers and went to the great hall, feeling slightly more at home. As I walk in I realise they all wore jeans with t-shirts. I also realise they are all incredibly handsome, even Remus with the scar down his face.

"Do you mind if I join you?" I ask softly. James nods, in the middle of a mouthful, Remus starts to say what I think to be of course, but gets interrupted when Sirius leaps to his feet with speed that makes me flinch. He looks me up and down, grins wickedly and makes space for me to sit down. The grin, I realise, has definitely broken more than a few hearts.

"Thank you, you probably guessed I'm not good with people." I say, truly thankful.

"Ahh, look at Evans, she's so beautiful…" James murmurs. Remus and Sirius snigger while I turn to see who he is staring at. A girl surrounded by other girls with long red hair is eating neatly with her knife and fork. I look back to James who before had been chomping down his food messily.

"You, fancy her? She's so… civilised." I say, sniggering too at the match.

"Exactly." Sirius says in my ear. "He's had eyes for her since second year."

After dinner I walk back to the common room with the three boys and lounge on the same sofa.

"I like this girl. She's not…well, girly." Sirius says.

"I agree, she's more, I don't know how to put it… like us!" James adds.

"Definitely, the other girls always get so… worked up!" Remus says, completing the trio.

"UM… I'm right here!" I say loudly. "But thanks!"

"You're welcome." Remus says, obviously the most sensible.

"I think we should consider making her a marauder…" Sirius starts to say, mischievously.

"Haha, nice, you only met me today, and you want me to be in your group, a bit risky? Especially since all I've seen today is people hailing you like royalty, are you guys pretty much famous?" I say sarcastically.

"Well, yes. You wouldn't believe how many people have tried to join us." James says.

"But it's not the effort!" Remus says.

"It's the likeability!" Sirius finishes. I laugh.

"Well, I have to consider it too…" trailing of and standing up. "I better get some sleep. Tomorrow's the first day of school." I say uneasily.

"You'll never get to sleep at this time, the girls in your dormitory will be chatting all night!" James says.

"I don't sleep in their dormitory." I say

"Where do you sleep then?" Sirius asks confused.

"Well, because I physically live here I have my own room and working space. I get the peace and quiet." I say happily, realising what good it would do me.

"No fair!" Remus says.

"It would be a great place to plan our next prank!" James says excited.

"Yeah sure, please can we aim it at those two idiots I made acquaintance to this morning!" I beg, walking to the stairs backwards. "It's first on the right."

That wasn't so bad. The Marauders… they really are nice. I wonder why Sirius keeps on doing odd gestures. From the rumours I can just see, it's obvious he's the… the guy who gets the girls. He's cute I suppose. James seems to have his heart set on Lily, and Remus is well… Remus. There's something odd about him though, he looks so shabby. Not his clothes, his face. He looks so tired. I wonder what's up. I'm sure they aren't all what they completely seem. Ah, It's going to be the full moon in three days. I love watching the full moon. I love watching the night.


	2. Chapter 2

My eyes fly open at 6 oclock. I slide out of bed and go straight into the bathroom. I use my refresh spray to wake me up, then moisturise and brush my hair. I quickly put my hair into a five-strand side plait leaving my fringe free. Then I change into my new school uniform and dig my timetable out. Today, I have Potions, Charms, Care of Magical creatures and Ancient Runes. As there's still half an hour till most people get up, I resume reading through my Beautiful Beasts book.

At exactly seven thirty, I put my book back into the bookcase and head into the common room. A few people are in there, most of them asleep. The one I recognise is Remus.

"Hey! I guessed the other two wouldn't be up yet." I say, walking up to him. "Wow, you look really tired, what exactly did you stay up talking about last night!" I add, taking in the heavy bags under his eyes.

"You." Remus says shortly.

"Damn it." I say.

"What subjects do you guys take? I have COMC, Ancient Runes and Astronomy ." I say, hoping I wouldn't have a class without at least one of them.

"Oh, We all take COMC, I take Ancient runes and the Sirius takes Astronomy. Looks like you're in luck!" Remus says, catching the hope in my voice. I give him a guilty smile.

"Those idiots still aren't up yet. Thomas and Dan from our dorm are already out, they're the only two left. Idiots." Remus says , looking at his watch as people start to leave.

"Maybe… your dorm's second down right?" I wickedly, already walking towards the stairs.

"Well, at least they'll be pleased you've broken your first rule!" Remus says, knowing he won't stop me. I smile and rush down the stairs and kick their door open.

"Come on idiots! Remus is waiting!" I say seeing James fully dressed but his head in a book, and Sirius pulling his jumper over his head.

"Coming…" Sirius says, dragging himself towards me.

"Yay! First rule broken!" James says sleepily. As he stands up I can't help notice the book he was reading. Animagi atlas.

I'm at the breakfast table with them, happily eating my toast. I drop into the conversation often, but my mind's on the book James was reading. I've read that book. And I know the people who read it are interested in becoming Animagi. I have to wonder, why?

"I'm going to have to go home the three days from now, my grandma's seriously ill." Remus says seriously.

"Aw, poor her. Send her my best wishes." I say, patting him on the back. There's something about his smile that makes me suspicious.

"James, why were you reading that book?"

"What book?" James says sleepily. However I feel Remus freeze. I lean over the table to make sure no one hears.

"Animagi Atlas." I say. James nods endlessly, as if figuring out what to say.

"Yep, picked it up for some info. Apparently there's a witch called Minerva McGonagall who's trying it out."

"James. I've read that book. I know why people read it. I'm not an idiot." I say, still whispering to him and Sirius.

"Why were you reading it?" Sirius asks, trying to catch me out.

"Because my mum was an Animagus." I say simply, catching him out. He tries to shrug, but I see through it.

"You're going to have to tell me sometime…" I stand up, grab my bag and head to potions, grabbing Remus by the arm with me.

"I don't know anything." Remus immediately says as we exit the hall.

"Yes you do. Look, we just met yesterday. I'm not going to try and uncover all the secrets you guys share. But dangerous ones, I will. I won't go digging, I'll just keep my eye on the ground in case there's gold." I say, making him steer me the right way to the dungeons, me still not knowing the way.

"What does that mean?" He asks.

"Are you serious? You haven't heard the saying? It means I won't pressure you to tell me anything, but if I notice something that may make any of you in danger, I'll do something about it." He nods, his face set in stone.

"Oh, Hi, you're Azalea Zamora, the new girl!" I turn round in my seat in the common room to see Lily Evans, of all people, coming to talk to me.

"Yeah. Hi." I say shortly, not really wanting to talk to her.

"I hear you're hanging out with Potter and his friends. I'd stay clear of them." She says.

"Why? They're really nice." I say, already getting annoyed at her for insulting my only friends.

"Well, Sirius, he's a total man-whore. He's dated every girl who isn't in Slytherin pretty much. But you probably fancy Potter. He's no use at all." She says, going through her list. Obviously, my temper rising I interrupt.

"I think I can choose my own friends thanks… though I'm not. It's not your job to judge people for me." I say. She looks a bit surprised, then walks away.

I'm sitting next to Remus in Potions. It turns out I'm one of the top for Potions. Along with Remus, Lily Evans and to my horror, Severus Snape.

"So Miss Zamora, it seems you have a spin on Potions!" Professor Slughorn says excitedly. "Maybe if you found you had time you could come along and join the Slug culb!" I look first to Remus, who has his face in his book, then to James and Sirius. They are frantically shaking their heads and mouthing "No!" at me. Plus the sniggering.

"I'm really sorry professor, but at the moment I'm trying to focus on making sure I'm up to scratch on the rest of the subjects." I say sympathetically.

"That's all right then." He says, slightly bothered.

"Nice Lie Az. You do not want to be joining the slug club." Sirius says, still chuckling slightly as we go out.

"What is the slug club?" I ask confused.

"It's a club professor slughorn made up. It's all for fine dining and famous relatives." James says smiling.

"Well, maybe you should try and be better at potions, Evans is in there." I say, nudging him. At first he puts on a face that tells us he would do anything for her… then on second thoughts just shrugs. I laugh.

"Charms next. Come on let's go!" I say running off, not wanting to be late, them scrambling behind me.

It turns out I actually was quite advanced on all of the subjects today, not so much on Ancient runes, but still quite good. They all seem to be good at most subjects. Remus a bit more, but that might just appear so because he pays attention in class. Lastly, Astronomy.

"Hey, Az! Wait up!" I see Sirius through the back of my head racing towards me.

"Hey Sirius. What do you think of Astronomy? Is it any good?" I ask, not having really done the subject before.

"Well, today we're doing practical." He says a grin sliding onto his face.

"Practical? I'm guessing the room is enchanted then." I say slightly confused.

"We lie on the floor and have to guess what stars are which." He says, still grinning. I gape.

"You've got to be kidding me. I haven't done anything like this." I say.

"Lucky you've got me then!"

"Okay, everyone lie down, and study the stars closely." The Professor says. I drop my bag and start to lie down. To find Sirius has put his arm round me. Instead of protesting, which I knew wouldn't get me anywhere, I just lie there. It's quite comfortable actually. I can feel just from lying on it his arms are really strong. I look to him and he's smirking.

"What?" I whisper to him, as the professor carries on talking.

"Nothing." He says, grinning even harder.

Astrology proves to be a little harder than the other subjects. And boring. Luckily I don't get asked any questions, but when Sirius answered, he was perfect. No, I mean his answer was perfect. After, we went back to the common room.

"Hey! How was Astrology?" Remus asks, greeting us from next to the fire.

"Very comfortable." Sirius says, grinning again and slumping down on the sofa.

"And dead boring. And harder." I say, flopping onto the sofa next to him.

"I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." James says from my other side.

"Black, Potter!" A 7th year who I remember to be called Leo comes up to us. "Try-outs are Saturday, can you be there?" Both just nod unnoticeably and I sigh.

"Yes they'll be there." I say politely. "What try-outs?"

"Quidditch. Please say you've heard of that!" James says grabbing my hands and getting down on his knees.

"Don't worry, I know quidditch. What do you guys play?" I ask.

"Beater, Seeker. Do you play?" Sirius asks curiously.

"I've never really tried. Plus I wouldn't know what broomstick to get." I say shrugging.

"Get a cleansweep 2. Would you go for chaser like Leo?" James says casually.

"No, I'm more of the keeper type. Do you fly Remus?" I ask, seeing him looking just as tired and worn out as this morning.

"No. I'm not really into it as much as these guys." He says, slightly quieter than usual.

"Are you okay? You seem, really, under the weather." I say, sliding of the sofa to him.

"I'll be okay."

"I'm going to go and do that charms essay where this won't distract me." Indicating the crowd in the common room. James' eyes light up and he nudges Sirius. Soon I have all three boys looking up at me with really weird faces. And I know what they want.

"Okay then, make sure you don't get seen." I say. We go to the stairwell and I quickly push them up the stairs and into my room.

"Wow, you really get luxury!" James says, being the first to step in.

"Mint!" Sirius says, dumping himself on my neat bed.

"Nice room." Remus says sounding slightly doubtful.

"Don't worry Remus. Azzy invited us in here. It's more of a secret hut." James says coming to his friend's aid.

"Okay, you shoot ideas around the room while I write my charms essay. It won't take long." I say. I quickly write a detailed parchment scroll about the effects and functions of the water charm, Aguamenti. I hear the boys discussing whether to simple flood the Slytherin common room or just make it personal with Snape and Malfoy. As I finish, I jump onto my bed next to James.

"I would go for flooding the common room. I want to make the first prank I see a big one.2 I say smiling wickedly.

"All for flooding the common room?" Sirius asks. Everyone nods.

The next morning I order a Cleansweep 2. I also ready myself for my first prank with the Marauders tomorrow. I also take a sneak peek in their room while everyone's at breakfast. And I was right. I know I told Remus I wouldn't go digging, but trying to become an Animagus is dangerous. I found loads of research about how to become an animagus, what animal you would become… They're serious about this. But why? They must have a reason. It must have something to do with Remus. He leaves the day after tomorrow. And he seems… like he doesn't actually have a seriously sick Grandmother.

"Hey guys. Oh!" I say sitting in my usual place on the sofa. To my surprise there is a new boy, a boy I haven't seen before sitting next to Remus.

"Az, Peter, Peter Az. Peter was in Switzerland with his parents for the last week." Sirius says explaining to me.

"Hi." I say slightly nervous. I had not been aware of the fact there were FOUR marauders.

"Hi there." Peter says, shaking my hand. Unlike the rest, he isn't so good-looking, and looks like he doesn't belong so much.

"It's okay Azzy Pete's been with us ages." James says, picking up on my shakey voice. "She doesn't like meeting new people."

Sirius puts his arm round me as usual. Remus is reading, obviously, and James is staring at Evans.

"James, have you thought about the reaction she gives you when she turns you down?" I say, smiling at him.

"Nope, just notice her face…"

"You idiot, she depends on it. She hasn't ever asked anyone else out, nor does anyone ask her." I say shaking my head. James starts to answer but Remus shouts:

"Got it!" It startles all of us, Pete jumping, James not listening so much, Sirius blinks and I jump and accidently fall onto Sirius' lap.

"God Remus." I say, trying to sit back up but Sirius just holds me down and strokes my hair.

"You found the spell?" Sirius asks intently.

"Yes!" Remus says.

"What spell?" I ask

"The one we'll use to flood the Slytherin common room." Sirius whispers to me.

"It's-" Remus starts, but I interrupt.

"Agualiana?" I say obviously. They all stare at me. "You guys seriously didn't know the stronger water charm? Why didn't you ask?"

"You know an advanced water spell…" Remus says staring at me.

"That's not even done in school." Pete says in awe.

"Amazing." Sirius says, looking down at me.

"Well, now we've got that done… It's 2:30 right?" I say and James nods. "Well I've done my homework so I'm gonna doze here for a while." I say, turning into Sirius and curling up.

"I did mine earlier too." Sirius says to my surprise.

"Damn you dude! She's got you into a habit!" James says, grabbing his bag and pulling out some books. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Sirius smells of leather, and some nice smelling deodorant I'm guessing. It's a nice combination. Again I can feel his chest just from lying on his lap. He's stroking my hair as I flutter to sleep…

A room I don't recognise… a spell… Snape… Sirius… blood… I see myself struggling with Sirius' body, bleeding like hell. He's extraordinarily pale, howling in pain.

I open my eyes to see Sirius' navy t-shirt directly in front of me. I start to sit up and look around. It's eleven. Everyone's gone to their dormitories. I stretch and tap Sirius on the shoulder.

"Wake up Sirius." I whisper. He stirs and opens his eyes.

"Wow, I really fell asleep. That's a first." He says sleepily.

"Maybe you should get more sleep. It's eleven." I say, stretching.

"Nah, I rather talk to you." He says, taking my hand.

"Who says I'm staying." I say mysteriously.

"I can make you stay."

"How?"

"Like this." He says, grabbing me, picking me up in a ball and lying me down on the sofa.

"Physical tactics." I say nodding. "So have you ever been in love, like James?"

"No, it hasn't happened yet." He says shrugging.

"You've definitely had a girlfriend though."

"Yeah, but they were all too… girly."

"Sounds like your search will be endless." I say tapping his nose.

"Sounds like I'm searching." He says wickedly. I push his shoulders and get up, walking to my room, leaving him hanging.

At 2:20 I open my eyes and slip on my black sweater and jeans. I keep my hair lose and head to the common room. The boys are just arriving and we slip through the window and fly round to the window to the Slytherins bathroom. One by one we slip through the window and are standing in a cubicle. Then, making sure the coast is clear we silently go to the opposite cubicle, lock the door and leave the broomsticks and climb up into the ventilation shaft. Don't ask me how they found this, I have no idea. We crawl along, led by James. We go left, all the way to the end, right, right again and down a slope. Then we're in the Slytherin common room. We all slide out silently and stand on one of the tables.

Their common room is different, very different. The sofas are neat and fancy, there's snake statues everywhere and most of it's green or silver. While James crawls back into the shaft (you can't really reverse in that shaft) Remus, Sirius and I start to flood the room.

"Agualiana." I mutter. Once the water is filling up to the height of the table, Pete's into the shaft, followed by Remus. I hear footsteps and see a shadow coming down their spiral stairs. Sirius sees too and jumps into the shaft. Then, we see him. Snape. His eyes widen at the flooding then go graze the room to find us. His eyes flash with anger and he doesn't hesitate to send a curse straight to Sirius. It hits. I have no idea what it even was!

"Ahh!" Sirius says, in a lot of pain, he carries on weeping, trying not to make too much noise while I cast a shield charm around us.

"It's okay, it'll be fine, come on, you can do it!" I push him forwards and climb in myself, shut the shaft and block it.

I desperately cast a muffuliato charm on the shutter and shout up the shaft.

"Sirius is hurt, badly! His arm's leaking blood!" I say my voice cracking. My hands are already stained from his blood.

"We have to get back! Remus, Azzy, help Sirius get through the shaft!" James shouts. We scramble back with Sirius' howls of pain and words of comfort from Remus and I.

"Sirius, we're nearly there, it won't be much longer." I say pushing his feet a bit further along the shaft. I hear the James push the shutter open and drop out of the shaft. Then Peter. Then Remus.

"Help him down, he can't move!" I say. I push Sirius out a bit then see him being lifted by James and Remus into the cubicle. I shoot out and take a look at him. There was blood everywhere, and I didn't know what to do.


	3. Chapter 3

"We can take him to my room, I have some medical stuff. I can ease the bleeding for now, Remus, help me." I say, taking a look at Sirius. His right arm and shoulder are slit in quite a few places, like they've been slashed by a sword. Dark Magic. As I look it gets worse. The cuts are deep, all of them. My vision! This was what it was telling me.

"That's it!" I say, muttering the medical spell over the cuts. The bleeding slows, but the enchantment won't hold for long.

"Damnit! Sirius, come on! You can do it! Azzy, take his broom. You get him to your room, we'll go back to ours." James says handing me a broom. I look around. Pete's trembling with fear for Sirius, and Remus is white.

"Let's go." I say.

James helps me get Sirius on the broom, and I manage to keep it balanced. Not thinking I shoot towards Gryffindor tower. I look for my window. How was I going to find it? I look from window to window. Suddenly I spot my books on my windowsill and and speed towards it. I open the window and drag Sirius in as gently as I can and lie him on the floor. Trembling at the blood I grab my medical kit from under my bed and summon the essence of dittany.

"Sirius, this is going to sting, a lot, okay?" I say uncertainly. He's writhing in pain as I quickly dab his wounds till they are all closed up. I add some burlap essence to make it heal faster then clean the blood up.

"Sirius? Are you okay?" I ask, stroking his head. He's white at the blood loss but manages to nod lightly. I give him a unicorn hair solution to help the pain ease. I levitate him into my bed and finish by hitting him with a pleasure spell. He seems to relax and soon faints. I take deep breaths and clean the blood of my hands. His blood. I find a sleeping draught I made earlier this week and drop a few drops into Sirius' mouth. He seems to settle into a comfortable position and seems relaxed. I let out a deep sigh and slip into bed next to him. Tomorrow will be horrific.

My eyes flicker open.I feel something hard beneath my head and realise I'm leaning on his chest. I quickly sit up. 7 oclock. Lucky it's Thursday, we start an hour later.

"Sirius." I whisper lightly tapping his shoulder. "Come on Sirius wake up darling." His eyes open and he looks into my eyes.

"What happened?" He asks croaking.

"When we were in the Slytherin common room Snape came down the steps. He shot a curse at you, I'm not sure which. We managed to get you out and in here. I managed to fix you up." I say gently stroking his forehead. He still looks quite pale. "How are you feeling?"

" My shoulder and chest aches, but other than that, not too bad." He says frowning. "How are you Az?"

"Relieved." I say smiling. "Your skin is scabbed, but you have to make sure not to tear it as the flesh underneath still hasn't completely healed. It should only take another day or two, but you'll probably be scarred for life." I say sadly.

"I don't mind." He says, though I can't believe him. I bite my lower lip and help him up. I help him to my full length mirror and see him restraining whatever feelings he was having. The Skin was pink and stretched, three large scars over his shoulder and upper chest.

"I'm sorry." I say running my hand over the scars. "Don't worry Az, I'll be fine." He says hugging me. He holds me in his arms with a sad face.

You should stay in bed, I can get you some breakfast. I know a spell that should help you regain some blood." I say sadly, still looking at his scars. I leave him sleeping and quickly change my sweater and go to the common room.

"Is he okay? Where is he?" James says, bombarding me with questions.

"How is he?" Remus asks with James, forcing me back a few steps.

"He's fine. He's going to have his scars for life but it's nearly all healed and I put a spell on him to help him regain some blood." I say, not smiling, pushing past them. "He's sleeping now, I suggest we get him some food so he can go to Transfiguration on time and awake."

"Okay, We'll take you to the kitchens." James says, taking my arm and speeding me out the door.

"Kitchens?" I ask, but before I know it we're at a portrait of a bowl of fruit on the fourth floor, and he's tickling the pear. It giggles a bit, then it swings open. And I can't believe my eyes.

The largest kitchen I have seen. Okay, I haven't seen many, but I knew this was big. Hundreds of pots and pans, knifes and forks, fridges and freezers… And the chefs- house elves. There must be about a hundred!

"Master Potter, good to see you! Is there anything you need?" Four house elves had lined up in a straight line and the one closest was bowing to James.

"Yes please, a large fried egg sandwich with some pumpkin juice please." James says, not exactly smiling.

"Is there anything you need mistress?" A smaller house elf had come up to me, without realising.

"Oh, just a small egg sandwich for me please. Oh, and my names Azzy Zamora." I say smiling down at the little house elf.

"They're wonderful creatures. I hate people who mistreat them." James says, seeing my admiration for the little house elf.

"Who would mistreat them?" I say without thinking.

"Supidly rich families who think they're the most important thing in the world." James replies coldly. "Malfoy." I say realising. Soon we have a very big egg sandwich for Sirius and we rush out of the kitchens.

When the clock strikes 8 I wake Sirius up and James gives him the egg sandwich. He starts lapping it down while I dap some more burlap essence on him.

"Okay, I'll put a spell on your arm so you won't feel any pain for the next few hours, I'll redo it at lunch." I say, quickly taking my wand out. I realise he still hasn't got a shirt on and say: "You better go get changed, I had to vanish your other shirt because you were bleeding so much."

"Don't you like me without?" He says wickedly. I hold back a smile and shoo them out of my room.

"Transfiguration is not a subject that comes easy to many people." Albus says. I'm sitting next to Sirius who's lazing in his chair. "I want everyone to have transfigured their kitten into a watering can by 10 o'clock, then we will move on to dustbins!" I look at the cute kitten and mutter the incantation. The kitten turns into a green watering can, and then I change it back. And then into a red watering can, and then back. And then into a blue watering can, and back.

"You're skilled at everything…" Sirius says from beside me. I look to him, he smirks and turns his kitten into a multi-coloured watering can.

"Show-off!" I say, rolling my eyes. I look to my desk and transfigure my quill into a scarlet ribbon and make it tie itself round the kittens head in a neat bow. Then Sirius raises it by transfiguring his quill into another scarlet ribbon with golden bells on it, and ties it round the kittens feet. Smiling, I pick the kitten up and start stroking it.

"Mr Black, Azalea, I believed I asked you to transfigure your kittens into watering cans." Albus says politely yet strictly.

"I got bored with the watering can." Sirius says, transfiguring his kitten into the watering can and back to show Albus.

"After I had transfigured him the fourth time he looked a bit befuddled, so I decided not to make him feel sick." I say sweetly to my Godfather, who smiles knowingly.

"That's them Professor!" the class turns and I see Snape pointing at me and Sirus with Professor Slughorn in tow. "They flooded the common room! I managed to injure Black as they were escaping! And not to mention Potter, Lupin and Pettigrew must have been in on it too!"

"My dear boy, that is a huge accusation to make. Are you suggesting on my goddaughter's third day of school she broke school rules and flooded your common room?" Albus says, coming to my defence. As soon as he distracts them I slip my hand up Sirius' shirt and mutter a concealment charm.

"All you have to do is look at Black! I definitely made a mark on him!" Snape says, pointing at Sirius.

"Have a look if you must, I'm not complaining." Sirius says lazily.

"Well, if Mr Black agrees, he and Azalea, go to the hospital wing with Professor Slughorn and Mr Snape." Albus says. Sirius stands up with me, and as we leave the room he drags his arm around me and whispers in my ear:

"Nice concealment charm." I smile knowingly.

"Madam Pomfrey, I am sorry to bother you, but please may you take a look at Black's chest? Young Severus here seems to think he was responsible for the flooding." Professor Slughorn says sympathetically.

"Alright then." Madam Pomfrey replies. Sirius slips his shirt off, grinning at me. As I take a look, it seems before the scarring, Sirius' body really was perfect. He has a faint six-pack and perfect skin.

"Nothing there." Madam Pomfrey says, examining his shoulder.

I'm walking with the Marauders to Defence against the Dark arts. A spark alights in my mind and I quickly pull Sirius into the Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"What?" He asks confused.

"Take your shirt off." I say, rummaging through my bag for the burlap essence.

"Oh, okay." He says grinning. I quickly dap the essence on, then put it back in my bag. As I begin to leave, Sirius grabs me and holds me close to him.

"Are you sure that was the only reason you wanted my shirt of Az?" He asks wickedly, his mouth inches from mine.

"What would give you that impression?" I ask, managing to keep my face straight.

"Well, this morning when I woke up, the pain wasn't the first thing I noticed." He says mischievously. "The first thing I noticed was the beautiful girl sleeping on me."

"Really?" I say, raising my eyebrows. I manage to loosen his grip and walk out the door, hiding a smile.

"You can't fight forever!" He shouts through the door.

The lessons fly past as the day goes by. When it comes to saying goodbye to Remus, they all look a bit… I still don't know how to describe it. I keep tabs on everything they say and do, but pick up nothing. It's all so confusing! Every time I find a lead, they manage to make it a dead end!

When I get to my room I find my broomstick wrapped up in brown paper. Happily I untie the strings and reveal the shiny broomstick. Not wanting to disturb the boys after the awkward send off I stick the broom out the window and try to stay aflight. I try to remember how I flew Sirius to my room so fast, but my memory seems jammed. Incidently, in my frustration I shout "Forward!" out to the world, and the broom lurches forward. I cling on and lean forward, giving instructions in my brain. After half an hour of experimenting with my skills I decide to drop down by the boy's dorm. As I dive to the window I see Sirius lounging on his bed and James slipping his shirt on.

"Why hello there, my dear fellows!" I say through the window, lounging on my broom. James immediately looks around the room, trying to detect the source of the noise, while Sirius jumps up, looking confused. Peter, who I realise is in the corner just looks up at his friends. I compress my laughter, then say: "Over here idiots!" Sirius looks directly at me, then grins with that grin that makes my stomach tingle.

"Hey! Not funny!" James says, coming over to the window. "Oh, you're flying!" He says realising my appearance. Sirius punches him in the side, shaking his head.

"We'll come and join you!" Sirius says grabbing his broom.

Soon Sirius, James and I are all flying dangerously outside while Peter is watching from the window.

"What's the matter Pete? Not into flying?" I ask, shooting to the window, nearly colliding with it making Pete jump.

"Not really." He says. "Please, stop doing that before one of you hurts themselves!"

"Nah, it's too much fun!" Sirius says, grinning.

"We ought to go in soon though, it's starting to get dark." James says.

"Okay, if we're ending soon… you're coming too!" I say, taking advantage of Pete leaning out of the window and pulling him out of the window and let him fall down screaming. Laughing, I dive down, faster than him falling, and catch him 10 metres above the ground.

"Get me back up there!" Pete squeals desperately. I slide him onto James' broom and we start flying up.

I see the cold quidditch pitch. I see James, and Sirius laughing at the side of the pitch. I see me! I see myself catch 4 out of 5 goals, and then the last one…

My eyes fly open at 7. Even though it's Saturday, try-outs are at 11, and James said he'd help me practice a bit before it starts. I quickly jump up and change into some tracksuit bottoms and a long-sleeve t-shirt. I use refresh spray as normal, and tie my hair up in a high ponytail, twisting my fringe to the side. After tying my laces of my trainers, I head into the common room. James is already there in his Quidditch robes.

"Oh, hey early riser! Sirius will be down in a sec, then we can go eat, then practice!" He roars the word practice. "Not like any of us need it. You looked great yesterday."

"I second that!" Sirius says, dragging himself up the stairs and into the common room.

"Did you put the burlap essence on?" I ask him seriously.

"Chill Az! Yeah, of course I did." He says smiling. "Let's eat, I'm starving!" I say, heading out through the portrait hole.

"How do you think Remus is doing?" I ask, as I eat my toast in a civilised way.

"I...msur…hesdo…ingr..ate…" James and Sirius say, stuffing their faces.

"Excuse me?" I say pointedly.

"I'm sure he's doing great." James says, looking up.

"Right, his Grandma could die." I say, my face blank. James shrugs. "Okay that's it." I say standing up. The boys look around, then realise there's no one else in the room and I'm talking to them. "Remus' Grandma isn't gravely ill is she. I don't know anything about this other than somehow because of whatever Remus' situation is you want to become animagi."

"You owe me the truth." I say, confronting them.

"Az baby, we're not trying to become animagi." Sirius says, his grin a little crooked.

"Okay, let me make this straight for you." I say strongly. "I. Went. Into. Your. Rooom. And. Found. The. File. On. How. To. Become. Animagi. Years, of work and research." They both sink into their seats.

"Fine, we are. So what." Sirius says, for once a grin not plastered on his face when looking at me.

"That's it isn't it. I will find out."I say confidently.

After my confrontation, we manage to get out of the awkward situation and head down to the Quidditch pitch. Both Sirius and James hurl the Quaffle at me and I continuously block, hit and catch it before it goes through the hoop.

"Nice going!" James says, after about forty minutes.

"Cool! Let's take a break!" I say, flying over to them.

"You've got some true talent Az." Sirius says, his grin making me flutter.

"Thank you Sirius." I say, tapping his nose.

"James? Sirius? Is this your new friend? Please pray to God she can fly as well as you two can. We're in need of some good flyers this year." The captain Leo says coming over to us wearing the same Scarlet robes as Sirius and James.

"Yep, and she can definitely fly. Az, this is Leo." Sirius says, slinging his arm round me.

"Nice to meet you." Leo says, taking his hand out. I shake it but say nothing.

"Azzy, come out of your shell already!" James says smiling. I shoot him a face of exasperation then say:

"Good to meet you too."

"Right, you two help me round up the second years who can barely fly." He says sighing. I watch all the younger ones scramble onto the pitch. I decide not to join them for the warm-up, having already been out for an hour. Then I fly up for the fly-offs, and find myself infront without trying too hard. After I go and sit next to Sirius and James while Leo goes through the chasers and beaters. They find 2 new chasers, Marie Lamont a 3rd year, and a 5th year called Christopher Jeen. They join the 7th year chaser Onyx Ender. Leo finds no beater good enough to take Sirius' place, and with Leo being the other beater… He doesn't even bother doing Seeker trials, apparently James really has an amazing talent. The it comes to Keepers.

"Right, gather round. Okay, so it's Azalea Zamora, 4th year, Tom Xin 6th year and Lian Taylor 2nd year." Leo says, writing our names on his score sheet. Xin goes first, catching 4 out of five shootings. Lian Taylor seems to have no coordination at all, and only manages to catch one Quaffle, and even that was probably by accident. Then I go up. I easily ride the wind and catch the first four shots. It feels great! I see Sirius and James laughing at the side of the pitch… I see the last shoot… That's it! My vision! I skilfully twist my body and kick the Quaffle straight into Leo's hands. I grin at him, as he seems baffled and can't seem to figure out how the Quaffle ended up in his hands. I go down and meet James and Sirius.

"Wow! You managed to block Onyx's signature shot!" James says smiling.

"Yeah I remembered… must have been pure luck." I finish, remembering Albus' words. James luckily doesn't notice and carries on laughing at Leo. However, Sirius picks up on my little stumble, but stays quiet.

"Right, well that's it! The Gryffindor Quidditch team consists of myself, Leo Thomas, Sirius Black, James Potter, Marie Lamont, Christopher Jeen, Onyx Ender and Azalea Zamora! Well done to everyone in the team, bad luck for those who didn't!" Leo shouts over the crowd of gathered people. I smile brightly and slide up next to Sirius.

"You deserved it!" He says, slipping his arm round me as usual. "We always have a small celebration after the team's chosen."

"I'll be there. Do we have to dress up fancy?" I say carelessly.

"Nah, this is Quidditch." He answers helplessly.

"Thank God. You've been in the team how long?" I ask

"Second year. Me and James trialled together and both got in." He says grinning.

"You do know what you do when you grin like that right?" I say hopelessly.

"What?" He says, thirstful for my opinion.

"Every time you grin, every girl in the room stares at you. You dazzle them." I say putting my hands in the air.

"What about you? Do I dazzle you Az?" He asks.  
"No, you're I'm not really into that stuff." I lie. "Anyway, I wouldn't trust you if I did. You've been with loads of girls, and dropped them straight away, pretty much." Now that is true. However, he still pouts like a child. I hit him in the shoulder and go back up to the castle.


	4. Chapter 4

"Cheers everyone, to the Gryffindor Quidditch team!" Leo says, everyone holding a paper cup with Lemonade in, apart from Onyx who has butterbeer, being eighteen. As usual, after the toast, I go and sit on the sofa, quietly drinking my Lemonade. It gets to eleven, then James and Sirius come to join me.

"You should come celebrate with us!" James says, him and Sirius both slinging their arms round me.

"Yeah, people know you're with us. They judge you as they judge us." Sirius joins in.

"Fine, if you want me to make you look like idiots, I give you permission to come and drag me over to wherever you are at the next party." I say, tapping them both on the nose and getting into a comfortable position as usual with them and drift to sleep on the sofa.

My eyes open. I'm still in the common room, lying on the sofa with Sirius and James, them both asleep. I slowly untangle myself, making sure I don't wake them, and go over to the window. I watch the stars. The stars are always moving you know, just like the earth is always moving. I look through the grounds I graze through the beautiful woods and hills, but my eyes stop when I see the lake. I can't believe my eyes! I can see a dark silhouette of something. A wolf maybe, or some kind of beast. I get my wand out and magnify my view. It is a wolf! No! A werewolf! I can see the distinguishing features! The snout is thinner, and the body is more human like! I can't believe it! A werewolf, in the Hogwarts grounds! Of course it's the full moon. It must be someone from Hogsmead. But I haven't heard anything about a werewolf living there. And it would be all over the place. Maybe…no. No, it couldn't be a student? But, the student I guess must be away, as the effects last two or three nights… I have to find out!

"Az baby?" I hear Sirius mumble and I turn around. He's still on the sofa, obviously just awake.

"Sirius, there's a werewolf in the grounds! Over by the black lake! It must be a villager, but those chances are slim, it must be a student, or even a teacher, from Hogwarts!" I say, eager to tell him more. "I know it was a werewolf, the eyes were black, and all the distinguishing features were there-"

"I know." He says sadly.

"What?" I say, walking over to him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I know. I know there's a werewolf. Yes, it's a student. I know him. You know him." He says calmly, looking down at his feet. My heads in a muddle. I know him? But no one I know has been away- Oh. Oh my God.

"Oh my God." I say the exact words I'm thinking. "That's why…Remus. Animagi. Oh, werewolves are friendly around other animals… Oh I can't believe I didn't see that coming. Well, actually I can. Oh Remus." I say slumping down next to Sirius.

"We're doing it for him. He's always miserable because of it." Sirius says sadly.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I just thought the animagi… it can be so dangerous…" I say, resting my head on his shoulder.

"It's okay. You know now. Just like we'll know about your secret." He says looking directly at me. "I know you have something. You slipped up at the Quidditch pitch. I know it has something to do with why your mother was killed."

"Do you know the reason it's a secret is because of why my mother was killed?" I say suddenly. "Do you know that if it gets out my life will end the same way hers did?

"It's okay, as you said, I won't go digging in less you're in danger or whatever."

"I won't go digging, I'll just keep my eye on the ground in case there's gold" I say, smiling.

" Let's get some sleep." He says, stroking my hair. I get back into the comfortable position I was in and go back to sleep, not bothering to go to my room.

"Can you see that girl over there? She's a marauder!"

"Look at the positions they're in!"

"She's a Marauder? Really? How did she get in? Is she dating one of them?"

"It seems likely. Lupin isn't here, Black would've dumped her by now… could it be Potter?"

"Maybe he got bored of Lily saying no! She must be dating him!"

"Let's go and tell Lily!" I hear the various voices speaking. I can tell James, Sirius and me are still all on the sofa, sleeping. Well, I'm awake, but I have my eyes closed and can't be bothered to get up. Anyway, I get the good gossip.

"Lily, there she is!"

"I see what you mean guys, she must be dating Potter." She pauses, like she was deciding how to react. "Good riddance to him. I hope they have a lovely time." That's odd. I can hear a slight tone of bitterness in her voice. Obviously I can't see her, but still. Keeping still, I lightly tap Sirius.

"Sirius, we fell asleep again." I murmur quietly, both of us still dozing.

"How long have you been dozing?" He murmurs back.

"About fifteen minutes. I've got some gossip though. All the girls think I'm dating James. Lily said she's happy, but I think she's pretending! She sounded really bitter!" Okay, am I really becoming a gossip mongrel? Sirius sits up straight, his face coming right up to mine.

"Really? We've got to tell James!" He says, then hugging me. On the count of three, we jump on James till he's on the floor, glasses askew, and most definitely awake.

"What?" I look around; the common room's starting to fill up.

"Meeting at mine 10 minutes. Get changed." I whisper, going off to my room.

I quickly slip on my blue "skinny" jeans, which were apparently the new trend. I also slip on an oversized band t-shirt and quickly brush my hair, refresh spray, and moisturise. I slip my brown boots on and am doing my hair when the boys come in, with Peter.

"Nice room." Peter says, looking around, seeing my books scrambled over my desk, my wardrobe slightly ajar and the clothes stuffed in, luckily nothing personal, and my bed completely unmade from two nights before. I smile at him.

"What was the wake up call for?" James says, sitting on my blue suede armchair.

"Well, I have some news for you. I already told Sirius that-" Sirius, obviously at his name interrupts me.

"That, Evans saw us on the sofa, and all the girls think you and Az are an item!" Sirius says excitedly. James just looks utterly confused.

"How is that good? You're the one who likes her-"

"Yes, but Evans was telling her friends that she was glad you moved on… but Az says, she heard the bitterness in her voice!" Sirius says, way too excited about it.

"I still don't see where this is going." Peter says, just as confused as James.

"Boys, boys, you really don't get girls do you." I say shaking my head. "Lily, doesn't hate the attention you give her. She relies on it. She relies on you to keep on asking her out. I think, maybe if we can develop this, so she thinks you've completely forgotten about her, and fallen for someone else, she might just fall for you!" It takes a few seconds for the words to register in James' mind. Then his eyes alight.

"You mean Evans, might actually like me?" James says, jumping onto the bed, and knocking me and Sirius over.

"Yes! And god you're heavy!" I say, being completely squished under James.

"Get used to it!" Peter says, and he jumps on the bed too. We all get into a tangle, and of course, the laughing doesn't help.

Once we're out of ourselves, and back into more civilised positions, we start brainstorming ideas.

"So, we need to make Evans jealous." Sirius says.

"Very jealous. Just a little will just make her to find someone else." I say.

"So… James has to date someone who annoys her." Peter says.

"Yeah. Go have a fake relationship." I say smiling.

"Who with?" James asks.

"Who do you know who really gets on Lily's nerves?" I ask. "I know she really gets on mine." I add, thinking about when she insulted the Marauders.

"No one… you say you don't like her?" Sirius says suspicious.

"Definitely. Sorry James, but before my first potions lesson, she totally tried to rule me. She said I shouldn't be hanging with you guys, called Sirius a really mean term, and well, generally sucked up to my face. I told her to piss off obviously…" I say, realising what Sirius was getting at. "No. I can't! No!"

"Oh come on Az!" Sirius pleads.

"Come on! It will just be a fake date! Plus, you know it's a fake date, which means I won't have to pretend I'm googly eyes in love with someone! We can just go as friends but make it look like we're dating!" James says, catching on. They start begging, and getting closer to me and…

"Okay! Fine! I'll go! But it means we're-" I motion to me and James "going to have to act like we are dating, all the time because we hang out all the time." I say, not sure I wanted to flirt with my best friend.

"Fine with me. Sorry Sirius, no more flirting with Az while I'm around!" James grins at his best friend. Peter, at my window suddenly says something unexpected.

"I wonder how Remus is doing…" James goes white, and starts to look at me.

"Oh, yeah. I know." I say, standing up. "I kind of sussed last night, when I saw Remus next to the lake."

"And I kind of filled her in on the rest." Sirius says. I thought James would go silent. I thought Peter would go silent. I thought they would both be shocked. Completely right about one, completely wrong about the other.

"Wow! That is good to get of my chest! No more secrets now!" James says, leaping up in the air. I laugh at him, and go up and hug him.

"I'm glad you're not freaking out fake boyfriend!" I say. "So when will the fate be?"

"Fate?" Peter asks.

"Fake date."

"Next weekend's a Hogsmead weekend. We can go to some stupid café and everything." James says, looking at the book on my desk.

Quidditch practice. Cold. Damp. Not wet, but still… It's great! I know, I'm a bit weird, but I love cold weather! Wet not so much, but light rain is very nice actually.

"Azzy! Take down Onyx!" I hear Sirius shout. We're training the new chasers. Leo seemed to have realised I had already done quite a lot of practice with James and Sirius so didn't bother with keeper training. I speed up to Onyx and knock him to the side with some amount of force. Onyx, being a big figure, was surprised at my force and was actually knocked to the side. However, he then comes back at me. Instead of flying away like I hear James shouting, I stay head on and Onyx hits me. Damn that hurt! I'm hit quite a far from Onyx and am spiralling towards one of the stands. Luckily I slide of my broom, get in contact with the stand and kick of the stand and start flying again.

"Careful Onyx! Azzy may be strong but this is practice! We don't want our best keeper in the hospital for our first game!" Leo shouts over.

"And if you put her there, you'll be joining her!" Sirius yells violently, handling his beaters bat. He flashes a smile at me, then hits a bludger with his strong arms towards Marie. Did I actually just say his strong arms? Oh come on! I can't be falling for Sirius. Even if I did, I'd be another one of his conquests and get a broken heart and have no friends. Okay, concentrate Azzy! As I see the chasers approaching the goalposts I get a grip on my broom and speed there in seconds. As Chris takes a skilled spinning shot I slide to the side, tap it gently so it hits the ring and catch it in my hands smiling wickedly.

"Leo! Who's the keeper for Ravenclaw?" I ask, mentioning our first opponent.

"Um, I think it's Joseph Biar? Or is it Bial?" He says thinking hard.

"Oh, Joseph Bean? Go for power shots guys; he's a total nerd, not a very strong build." I say.

"How do you know him?" Sirius asks suspicious.

"I was paired with him in Charms, remember?" I say carelessly. I quickly drop down to the ground and quickly go get the apple I saved from breakfast. I take a bite, and head back up to the goalposts.

"Azzy, you don't want to be daydreaming while these guys throw the quaffle at you-" Leo starts. Marie had just taken a shot , and I merely stuck my leg out and it tipped into my hands. I throw it to Onyx, take another bite, and say:

"You were saying Leo?" He puts a blank face on, then carries on playing.

"Quidditch… It's so energizing!" I say as I walk brightly into the common room. "Don't you guys think that?"

"I think she's mental." James says.

"So… cold…" Sirius says, dragging himself in. I roll my eyes and hit them both with a heat spell. They go into praise mode.

"Oh come on, stop it- Remus!" I spot my werewolf friend sitting on the sofa in front of the fire. I push James and Sirius out of the way and go to hug Remus.

"Azzy. Hey there." He says, sounding slightly depressed. I open my mouth to explain but Sirius gets there first.

"She knows about your furry little problem. She sussed when she was looking out the window, and we filled her in." Remus face goes into a scared look, then sees how bright I'm looking and tries for a smile.

"You really don't mind?" He says edgily.

"Of course not." I say kindly, and sit down on the sofa. "Situations like yours are a real problem in the wizarding world. Anyway… animagi."

"What about it?" James asks, lounging on the sofa.

"When were you planning on doing the… ceremony?" I ask, a little awkwardly.

"As soon as we get everything covered. We've read every reference in the library, plus all the books we can find, but we still haven't found everything." James says quiet, yet a little irritated.

"I have a proposition to make." I say slowly, standing up. They all look at me, waiting. "My mum, as you know, was an animagus. She had me set to become one too. I know all the ins and outs, all the things to do, all the things that could go wrong. I will help you… if you let me become one with you." They all look up at me, before grins breaking out on James, Sirius and Pete's faces. Remus however was a different story.

"Absolutely not. I barely tolerate these guys doing it for me, but definitely not you. No way Azzy."

"Come on Remus! What's the difference between me and them?!" I argue, clearly annoyed.

"You're… more… delicate." He finishes, obviously trying to find a reason goof enough.

"So I'm more delicate than…Pete." I say slowly, apologising to Peter through the corner of my eye.

"Um… not exactly… you're… just no!" He says firmly. It wasn't a question.

"Remus, I could do it on my own if I wanted to… I'd probably get there before these doofuses." I say, signalling to the boys. They fake being outraged, obviously knowing I probably would get there before them. Remus looks conflicted, before sighing in defeat.

"Fine. If you get hurt… any of you I'll kill myself." Remus says, hanging his head.

"We wouldn't let you do that." I say. "Oh, we need to… my room, now." I add quickly, slipping up the stairs.

"What?" Remus asks, coming into my room for the second time.

"James, tell him everything about operation fate." I say blankly. Remus looks puzzled.

"Well, when you were away, Evans caught us three asleep on the couch and thought that me and Azzy were dating. Azzy heard her telling a friend she couldn't care less, but there was bitterness in her voice and Azzy says she could even like me so if we make her jealous enough of another girl she hates who is supposedly with me she will declare her undying love for me and because Azzy knows about this and Evans hates her anyway she's going to be my fake girlfriend and next hogsmead weekend we're going to go to a sappy café and pretend to be falling in love, but obviously we aren't cos she's Sirius' girl and then Evans will get so jealous then me and Azzy will have a massive break up in a public place so everyone knows then she will come to me and I will sweep her off her feet!" James says extremely fast. Like lightning fast. Like speed of light fast. Seriously.

"I think I got that…" Remus says, obviously a bit overwhelmed.

"What did you mean by Sirius' girl? He's like this with every girl he meets, unless she's a damned fiend from hell." I say glaring at James. He shrugs.

"Fate… fake date? Okay. Don't we have to make her see you then?" Remus says, catching on.

"Good point." Pete says.

"Idea time." I say. "Evans won't listen to any of us… who will she listen to?"

"Any of her weird obsessive friends." Sirius says.

"Some of them are nice…" Pete says blushing.

"Do any of them… are any of them really inexperienced in the love department. Like really inexperienced?" I ask frowning.

"Kitty Wills? She's really annoying, probably why no one will even ask her on a date." Remus pipes up. A smile slowly slides onto my face. This would work.

"Okay, shut up for a second. You- as guys- will not understand this but just listen. As I just said Sirius is flirtatious with every girl who isn't a prick, so…" I say, the boys rolling their eyes at me. "If Sirius flirts a lot with this Kitty girl, makes her feel like she's the best girl in the world, then he asks her a favour, and because she is inexperienced, she'll do anything for him literally. He asks her to tell Evans to go to whatever café we're going to, without telling her Sirius told her, then she'll be there right?"

"Plus, after we know Evans is jealous and totally in love with James, Sirius can dump her on her fat butt and we won't feel guilty at all!" I say smiling.

"Are you sure she'll do what Sirius asks her to?" Pete asks uncertainly.

"Of course she will. Everyone loves me." Sirius says, grinning deviously.

"This is going to work. Sirius, go sweep her off her feet." I say confidently. He salutes, then exits the room.

"You really shouldn't encourage him." Remus says.

"Who said I was? I may not have been here very long, but I already know what he's like with girls and I definitely don't approve." I say, shaking my head.

"You have no idea. He was a lot worse, before you came along." Pete says gravely.

"He made enemies, not very nice people. Actually some weren't that bad, but now none of them touch us. But we're still in our fifth year, he has time to… do something about it…" Remus explains to me.

"Like what? It's his attitude, he'd have to become a different person in order to change." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Or… just meet the right girl to put him in his place." James adds, looking directly at me. I look at the floor, hoping they don't mean me.

"You're wrong… no girl would be able to tame him. He's a wild beast. He could never be attached to anyone for more than a few weeks." I say, ending the conversation and walking out of my room.


	5. Chapter 5

I can't believe James! Implying that kind of thing! Sometimes I start to wander why I hang out with guys instead of girls. Then I remember, it's to avoid all this stuff. Jeez, when did I get so stressed about this stuff. It turns out Sirius managed to get Kitty Wills pretty easy.

"Hey guys, I'd like you to meet Kitty, my date to Hogsmead." James, Peter and Remus all keep reading their books in their lounging places on the sofa. I sigh and turn around to smile at Kitty.

"Nice to meet you Kitty. I'm afraid these chumps will never stop looking at their books until they're finished." I say sweetly, taking in the blond, annoying face next to Sirius'. Wow, she really isn't… well… forget it.

Sirius sits down next to me on the sofa as usual, but winking at him, I go ahead and lean into James, who shrugs his arm around me. Meanwhile Kitty scrambled onto Sirius' lap, who lent back and relaxed. I start reading James' book (Wand lore Wits) while silently watching Evans who was studying in the corner of the room. We were being so quiet she hadn't noticed us.

"Make a joke." I mutter to James out of the corner of my mouth. He looks at me confused answering:

"What joke?" loudly enough so the whole common room could here. Well. That was going to have to do. I giggle like a girl while elbowing James in the side. He starts to make a face then catches Evans in the corner then laughs with me, pulling me closer to him and stroking my hair. Wow that feels … not as weird as I thought it would be. Now although this was a great move, I really started to laugh. I let out a small laugh while desperately biting my lip hard to stop me from laughing.

"Damn my lip hurts." I say after a few breaths, rubbing my lip. "Please don't make me do that again." James grins and whispers.

"Well, it's not my fault you find me so funny." I flick him while grumbling about whether it was worth it or not. I look to the corner and catch Evans' eye. Okay, it definitely was worth it, just watching her become jealous of me and my fake boyfriend. Smirking like a Slytherin I turn back to James.

"Well at least it worked-ow!" My lip had began throbbing and I tasted blood. Great.

"You okay?" James asks sincerely worried. "Here, let me help-" He leans forward to see what he can do but he loses his balance and falls forward, his lips landing on… mine. At first we both flinch but I quickly remember the mission hold him still. His lips are soft, and warm, and it feels nice. Oh great it feels more than nice.

We slowly break apart finding ourselves blushing furiously, with most eyes on us. There's silence before-

"Get a room!" a 6th year shouts at us. I take pleasure in flicking my wand back, hitting him with a freezing charm. I sigh and snuggle back next to him, starting to read his book again, still blushing furiously, still smiling at how nice it felt to kiss someone.

"Did you enjoy your first kiss James?" Remus asks as soon as we had shut the door of my room at the end of the night.

"It wasn't planned guys, James just kind of fell on me-" I started.

"Into a kiss." James finished. "And yes, I thought it was particularly lovely! If you ignored the taste of blood." I hit him while jumping onto the bed next to him and Remus.

"What about you Azzy?"

"That wasn't my first kiss." I reply, not exactly sure how to say it. "And why would it matter if it was good or not?!"

"Because it was! And when did you have your first kiss then?" James replies obnoxiously. "You said me and Sirius were the fourth people you met!"

"My mother was the first, Albus was third. The second person I met was a boy a couple years younger than me, at the time I was thirteen."

"And you kissed?" Pete says incredulously.

"It's not as if we were strangers, we were really good friends and then one day he kissed me."

"What happened-" James starts to ask until Sirius interrupts as usual.

"Well, that got Project Fate underway, Evans had to leave the room. Kitty was all over me, she was doing whatever I asked her to." Sirius says, cocky.

"Well of course, we shall forever be in your debt!" I say sarcastically.

"I agree that it's all going well though." Pete agrees.

"James, Azzy keep up the love work. Just act all sappy." Remus adds.

"But no kissing James." I say as I see James grin. "Plus I'll probably flinch and slap you which would ruin the whole thing." I add smirking.

It soon comes up to the day of our match against Ravenclaw. My eyes squint open at 6 as usual, and I pull my hair into a neat high ponytail with my fringe. I use my refresh spray as my eyes are drooping shut then quickly slip on some tracksuit bottoms and a random tank top. I jog down to the great hall to find James and Sirius already scoffing down the food, with Remus and Pete looking exhausted beside them.

"What happened to you two? Get dragged out of bed perhaps?" I ask smirking.

"Shut up… trying to sleep." Remus mutters with closed eyes. I grin and sit down, starting to cut up a piece of bacon.

"Today's going to be great! We're already guaranteed a victory!" James says after finishing a boiled egg.

"And how do you know that?" I ask, rolling my eyes. "Yes, our team is amazing, but we don't know how good Ravenclaw's going to be."

"Easy. You've never let a ball in at practice, and James catches the snitch every time. Then there's the perfect weather, no wind or rain, not too cold - The perfect formula!" Sirius says with a piece of toast stuffed in his mouth.

"Please, Sirius! Don't speak while you're eating!" I say, shaking my head. After eating, we head back to the common room to collect our brooms, then head to the changing rooms.

_Where am I? Oh the quidditch pitch! The game! Wow, we're winning by a lot! 180-10. I guess James was right. Hang on… where's that bludger going? Oh my, it's heading straight for James, while he's speeding of for the snitch! What the-_

Another vision. But this time not one while I'm sleeping.

"Hey, Azzy! You okay? You look a bit dazed, and we really need you on your game!" Leo says to me as we mount our brooms, ready to fly onto the pitch.

"Yeah, just great!" I reply, gripping my broom. I hear the music, and the gate opens and I kick of the ground, and into my first proper quidditch match.

Racing to the right hoop, I lunge forward and catch the flying quaffle in my hands, smirking at the chaser.

"And Zamora catches yet another! So far in this match she hasn't let a single one in, and a fair many have been shot!" The commentator, I think it's Thomas Taylor, a 4th year hufflepuff. "Quaffle goes to Lamont, then to Ender, back to Lamont, and to Jeen who scores!" Yes, I punch the sky! We're doing great! 120-0, just a bit more of a gap and even if James doesn't get the snitch we'll win!

"And Black comes to Ender's aid, sending a well-aimed bludger to Kendell the captain, nearly knocking him off his broom! Oh but what's this? Quaffle approaching the posts…" What? My eyes dart from Sirius to in front of me as Kendell skilfully spins the ball through the left hoop. Great. Keep your eyes on the game Az.

"Sorry Leo, I'll pay more attention!" I shout to Leo, seeing his face in the air, not too far away.

Right, Chaser coming in at speed from the far left, hand position suggests a fake. She darts to the right then spins round and-

I easily slide my arm around the quaffle and yes, showing off, I let it pass behind my head and round to my other arm. I smirk at the Ravenclaw chaser, forgive me for not knowing her name, then do a quick pass to Maria.

I see the idiot Kendell streaking up the pitch with the quaflle, as a well-aimed bludger hits him in the stomach just after he throws it to the female Ravenclaw chaser. She ascends upwards until she's a good 30 ft above me then dives down. Apparently this was her signature move. And lucky her I knew exactly how to prevent it. As she dives I ascend to meet her and jump off my broom, seeing the confused look on her face, put my arm round the quaffle and, yes, again showing off, do a backwards flip in theair before easily sliding back onto my broom, a wide smirk on my face and clutching the quaffle. Boy, this was a great first game!

After 113 minutes, it's 180-10, and I really want James to catch the snitch soon. The Ravenclaw chasers have really kept me busy, and I'm sweating like crazy.

"And there he goes! Potter, shooting down the pitch, with Lynch not far behind!" I watch James as he dives down the centre of the pitch for the snitch and I see the fleck of gold just a few metres in front of him.Hang on… where's that bludger going? Oh my, it's heading straight for James, while he's speeding of for the snitch! Instinctively I speed away from the goalposts and fly in between James and Lynch, smashing into the bludger…

"… At least we won. James caught the snitch seconds after."

"At least Leo managed to catch her before she hit the ground."

"She looks bad." My eyes flicker open slowly and I see a load of sweaty worried faces in scarlet quidditch robes around me. I also find myself with a massive pains in my right arm and shoulder, plus a bad stomach ache.

"Yay, she's awake!" Maria says, smiling at me. I start to push up into a sitting position but Sirius who I see next to me pushes me back down.

"You're not leaving this bed." He says protectively. "It's my fault, I was too busy watching that idiot Kendell to see the bludger."

"It's mine too, I should have been there quicker." Leo says grimly.

"No, it's fine, it's no one's fault. Thanks for catching me Leo. And we should be celebrating! We won right?!" I say, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm not celebrating with one of the start members of my team in the hospital wing.

"He's right about that, only one Ravenclaw goal, when at least 40 were shot." James says proudly.

"You have a broken wrist, your shoulder was dislocated, but it's been sorted now, and you will probably have back pains?" Madame Pomfrey says, pushing her way through the Quidditch players. I nod. "Right, you, get out. She needs rest. You can see she's fine now, only a few people can visit **quietly** at a time."

I smile as the quidditch players grumble away, and Remus and Pete come hurrying in.

"Azzy, are you okay?" Remus asks his eyes wide.

"Is there any blood?" Pete asks with his eyes squeezed shut.

"I'm fine Remus, and Pete there's only a little dried blood on the sheets." I say smiling at my friends.

"You'll be out soon; I'll give you a potion to help with the pain." Madame Pomfrey says, after quickly flicking her wand and hearing my wrist click with a slight sting.

"That's good; I guess it isn't really a wonder why you, my dear was injured in quidditch." I turn to the entrance and see Albus coming through the door, his eyes twinkling.

"Albus. Yeah, I suppose so. It's not that bad though. Nothing to worry about." I say, greeting my godfather.

"Oh yeah, Professor Dumbledore is your godfather!" Pete says, remembering. I nod and continue.

"I should be out soon though."

"I came to also congratulate you on your win! Even as a Professor, I will always be a Gryffindor." Albus said smiling. All of the marauders grin wickedly, understanding completely.

A few hours later we were in the common room, lounging around on the sofa as usual.

"Hey Sirius… You were amazing in the quidditch match; I've never seen a beater who played as well as you did!" I look up from my position, having to move uncomfortably to look at the student. Damnit, I was leaning on James with my legs on Sirius' lap, unfortunately I was forced into a sitting position.

All that, to look at Kitty Wills. God that girl is persistent. Since she and Sirius had… you know, gotten together she'd been coming to flirt with him at least once every ¾ of an hour. Including in classes. And I never get my maths wrong.

"Thanks, it was an easy win. Though if I'd been quicker, Azzy wouldn't have got beaten by that bludger." He admitted.

"I'm sure it didn't matter that much. It was only one person's fault." Oh Shit. I can already feel Sirius and James getting angry. Bad move Kitty cat.

"I agree Kitty." I say quickly, holding James and Sirius down by their wrists, giving Kitty a sweet smile. "I mean, there's nothing Madame Pomfrey can't patch up. I was being clumsy" She frowns slightly but continues her horrid smile and sits herself on Sirius' lap.

"Jeez she really is a piece of hard work." I say as we sneak into my room at the end of the night.

"She shouldn't have said that." Remus says shortly.

"I could've punched her." James exclaims.

"Screw the fate, if she does that again she's dead." Sirius says harshly.

"Guys, don't worry, I'm completely used to a bit of trash talk. Don't worry at all, if it happens again, let me handle it and I'll stuff her words up her own arse." I say smirking.

"Other than that, it's going well. Just keep up the lovey dovey and day after tomorrow – Madame Puddifoots!" Remus says, keeping on track.

"What's Madame Puddifoots?" I ask, having not heard the term before.

"It's the most sappy, cheesy love café in the world." Pete says, disgusted. "It screams cheese without selling any." Oh. Great.

"Ugh." I say, slumping onto my bed.

"Some of the cakes are okay though." Sirius says, his eyebrows raised.

"Like I'm going to be thinking about food this weekend." I say, rolling my eyes.

"Is it okay if I do?" James asks, completely serious.

"Definitly not." I reply, equally serious.

I scribble down notes on whatever Professor Slughorn is talking about right now. I seem to know what I'm writing down.

"Miss Zamora- perhaps you could tell me what the product will be if you drink a beauty draught and a medical draught after waking from a sleeping draught?" I look up when my name is called to find Professor Slughorn asking a question on whatever he had just been talking about. Shit.

"Erm… medical draught… boils will sprout all over your face which are irremovable unless you have the very rare nix feathers…" I try to say it without making my voice go up in pitch at the end. Slughorn's face bursts into a smile and I secretly let out a sigh of relief.

"Close shave Az." James says coming up to me on our way out.

"Tell me about close!" I reply nervously.

"I think you've been hanging round James and Sirius too long." Remus says sighing.

"As if! We always pay attention in class." Sirius says grinning.

"Actually you have the skill of a two year-old Black, you just have an extraordinary lucky streak." A sneer comes from behind and before I'm completely sure who it is I whirl around and send a freezing charm on my victim.

"Dear, dear snivellus, he should really learn not to sneak up on us." Sirius says smirking at the frozen Slytherin.

"He should take a class on it, since he's so good at listening in class." I add. "Come on, I don't like to be late to my godfathers class."

It comes to the night before the Hogsmead weekend, and we all go into my room for the game plan.

"Right, tomorrow, Azzy will meet James alone in the front yard at 10:00, while me and Pete go separately and Sirius will go with Kitty." Remus says. We all nod in our huddle around our map of Madame Puddifoots. "James will walk Azzy down to Madame Puddifoots, and will sit in the front booth in front of the window so everyone can see. Pete and I will go to the quidditch supplies shop adjacent to the café, while Sirius will be a gentleman and go shopping with Kitty and her friends, aka Lily Evans." Again, we all nod.

"Sirius will make sure the Lily Evans party go to Little girly things, the shop opposite Madame Puddifoots, which, when they arrive, James and Az will start a very believable sloppy conversation, with a load of cheese. Sirius will make sure he's staring, so the Lily Evans party will definitely see, and hopefully we can get them into a right mess about it, then Sirius will leave to join us. Then at 1, James will take Azzy through Hogsmead, including a tour for her since she has never been to Hogsmead, which will end at the three broomsticks, where we will meet up and enjoy a well earned drink. Probably butterbeer." Remus finishes, smiling broadly at his organised plan.

" I have to say Remus, I think you've outdone yourself here, this is a soundless plan!" I say, smiling with him.

"I agree, Evans will fall all over you in no time!" Sirius says.

"I second that!" Pete says.

"Great!" James high-fives my ceiling, then turns to me seriously. "Azzy, what are you wearing?"

"Me? I thought you'd never ask!" I say in a false voice. "You'll find out. Oh, don't wear pink, yellow, orange, red, or white. Especially not pink." They all raise their eyebrows at me and I laugh. "What? Just because I hang out with you all the time, and my room is just as messy as yours, doesn't mean I'm not a girl!"

As soon as they leave, I open my wardrobe to look at my well planned outfit hanging on the inside of the door, along with the neatly put shoes on the floor next to the wardrobe. I grin broadly. I bet they're expecting a random pair of tracksuits, a band t-shirt, a hoodie, odd socks, and a pair of trainer. Oh and my hair in a reckless ponytail and my nails dirty and roughly cut. Jeez, they were in for a shock.


	6. Chapter 6

My eyes fly open at7:30, and I have a quick shower and wash my hair. I apply a light coat of tinted moisturiser all over my face, then pluck a couple of stray eyebrow hairs. I put on pencil eyeliner on top and bottom, then curl my eyelashes and add some mascara. Lastly I put murky green eye shadow on my crease, apply a mulberry lipstick and spray my face to seal in the makeup.

I drink a potion to make my hair go wavy and put on some clean underwear including a lace strapless bra. I open my closet and put on the outfit I had planned. After zipping up my suede knee-high boots I look at myself in the mirror. I'm wearing a black top that's tight around my chest and stomach , with a large ruffle at the top and a cage neckline. The same murky green has been splattered in a few places like paint. I then have some high-waisted dark denim shorts with some opaque tights that aren't completely see-through, but you can still see my skin underneath. Over the top I'm wearing a fitted camouflage jacket unzipped to give it some pattern. I finish by drinking a potion that gives me camouflaged nails then grab my already packed black shoulder bag.

Instead of going to breakfast I go to the kitchens, I mean, I want them to be shell-shocked when they see me in the courtyard, I can't have them seeing me before! I eat 2 pain au chocolate's and have a warming hot chocolate before having a mint and heading to the courtyard.

As I start walking down the stairs I see Remus and Pete near James, waiting with him and I guess Sirius is off with Kitty. As I get down the stairs James turns round and I take in his appearance. He's wearing a tight green t-shirt and his favourite dark jeans with his leather jacket, plus a state of shock seeing me. I smile as I look at the boys slightly shocked faces, then go up to meet them.

"Hey!" I say casually.

"Hey. You come and say hey completely normally while dressed absolutely gorgeously with most of the guys in this courtyard staring at your transformation!" James says his eyebrows raised. I look around, meeting a lot of eyes.

"Ohhh. Didn't notice that. And you actually look like you put in a bit of effort too!" I reply. He smirks and says:

"Well, I'm always deviously handsome but-" Before he finishes I kiss him quickly on the cheek and say;

"Should we go?" He nods and we wave goodbye to Remus and Pete.

"This is going to be great. We get to have a nice time while laughing at Evans' jealousy!" I say to James.

"Definitly. And I plan on having more than just a "nice" time!" He replies.

"Of course we will."

"Have you heard about the new broom coming out? It's called the nimbus 1000!"

"Yeah! Most of the major teams have ordered them in advance right?!"

"Yeah and…"We chat all the way to Hogsmead, without a doubt in the world.

Up in front of me is a building painted white with hearts painted in all different shade of pink with Madame Puddifoots written in swirly writing. Inside there were booths for two and only two, the tables with pink tablecloths on them and the seats made of pink suede. You could see on the counter little cupcakes and cookies with hearts and flowers on them in pink icing. Wow.

"You can't be serious. How can anyone bear looking at it for more than five minutes without being violently sick." I say in awe.

"Talk about being violently sick the first time I saw it I was paralysed for a good half an hour." James replies. He drags me into the café and I try not to look completely disgusted. Sliding into the front booth we look at the menu and get a strawberry milkshake to share and a plate of chocolate cookies with some weird love-inspired name.

"Sirius was right, these aren't half bad." I say, taking a bite out of a cookie. "Oh, eat nicely James, no stuffing your face." I say just as I see him about to stuff a whole cookie into his mouth. Instead he takes a small bite. "That's better."

"Here they come." James says as we see a group of perky girls with Sirius standing out like black and white.

"So… what's your favourite colour?" I ask flirtatiously, looking into his emerald eyes.

"You can't be serious. I can do better." James says, shifting closer to me. In the corner of my eye I see Sirius staring at us, slowly getting the attention of the rest of their group. "When did you get so beautiful?" He asks in a low husky voice, making my heart flutter. I smile and look down at the table instinctively but James' fingers are already tipping my chin up so our eyes meet.

"I'm not sure." I reply.

"Of course you don't, you always were." He says softly, and I really am caught up in the moment. Just as I catch Sirius staring emotionless, the girls all watching with fascination, Remus and Pet grinning from the side, and Evans going the shade of her hair and frowning, James cups my cheek and we both lean in and our lips meet like before. The kiss starts completely differently from the first time. It just goes straight to the warming feeling, sending my stomach in circles. I barely notice time as I'm stuck in half delight and half… well having a "gross I'm kissing my best friend" feeling. One thing I do know is that it's really confusing. As soon as my brain fully realises what's happening, I shift forward and put my arms round James' neck and feel his slight surprise that I'm not pulling away.

After what I realise as 8 minutes 57 seconds, though it felt like half a minute, I break away smiling.

"I vaguely remember saying no kissing." I say musing.

"And?" James replies, smirking.

"Who the hell fricking cares." I murmur, moving permanently into the closer position, my body touching his and our lips 3.72 inches away. "Look, Evans is leaving."

"I think they enjoyed the show." James adds, obviously amused.

"Well, half of Hogwarts would have heard in barely an hour from now, and probably everyone by the time we get back to Hogwarts, especially with perky little Jaune sunshine on the job." I say, restraining myself from rolling my eyes and making a disgusted face.

"That is true, she seems to be able to be late everywhere except when there's gossip." James agrees.

"Plus, she manages to have a first name that means yellow, and a second name like sunshine!" I say, scowling accidently as I lose my control. James chuckles.

"Of course you wouldn't like that!"

"Definitely not."

15 minutes later we exit the awful café, and James takes me through Hogsmead. There's an awesome joke shop called Zonko's apparently most of the pranks they do involve the tricks from there, and the marauder's map was based on some of their products. Then there's Honeydukes, which is the bestest, tastiest magic sweet shop I have ever been to… which I guess doesn't exactly say much but there's a secret passageway through the cellar to Hogswarts which is awesome. We also go into the quidditch store to get some new keeper gloves for me, and into a general store to get James a speech quill. We find ourselves ending at the townsquare infront of a shabby looking building with "The Three Broomsticks" on a sign in the doorway.

"Pete, Remus!" I exclaim as I see them in a corner booth with 5 drinks. James and I slide into the booth and James pours the drink into the pint glass starts to down it.

"Hey there, I think this worked out amazingly!" Remus says proudly.

"Yeah it did- James stop drinking, Sirius still isn't here we can't start you pig!" I say, slapping his hand lightly causing him to put the drink down. "What is this anyway?"

"Butterbeer. Heavenly liquid. The drink of the gods." James replies, not particularly happy about putting the drink down.

I smile and quickly take a sip of the orange frothy drink in front of me.

"No fair!" James exclaims. At first it just tastes of over-alcoholic orangey bubbles, which I have to say isn't particularly nice. But then the actual liquid fizzes nicely in my mouth with less alcohol and more tasty orange.

"Not too bad. I poured too much froth though." I look around at the door and check Sirius isn't coming then quickly yet carefully pour his drink with barely any froth, pour a little bit more into my previous glass then swap them. "That's better."

"You can't do that!" James protests.

"Of course I can! Sirius won't mind, he still gets the same amount of butterbeer, plus I'm the only girl out of us so I get priority. You know – ladies first?!"

"I think you mean ladies first after men?!" James replies childishly. I smile before realising Sirius coming to sit next to me on my other side.

"I thought you said no kissing?" Sirius said after sliding up next to me and taking a ginormous gulp of butterbeer.

"Told you he wouldn't mind." I say, watching him have his drink.

"Wouldn't mind what?" He asks confused.

"Nothing!" I say, taking a purposely taking a large sip of butterbeer. "So what's next on the line for project fate?"

"Well, I would say just keep on acting couple and let the rumours run wild. Then maybe two months from now break up in front of the whole school!" Remus says after visually making a plan in his head.

"Yeah, I suppose that sounds right!" James agrees.

"The only problem I have is managing to be "in love" with James. He's getting more typical guy every day!" I say, slouching back into my seat. "But I think I can manage it!" I add grining.

"Sirius?" Remus asks.

"I'm still confused, what don't I mind?" He asks, 8 sentences behind. We laugh while James says:

"Azzy drunk some of her butterbeer then swapped it with yours cos she doesn't like the froth." Sirius raises his eyebrows, and while I'm distracted laughing, he leans across and starts to sip my drink.

"Hey!" I say through laughter, and knock him away from my drink… and splatter it all over us. We freeze looking at each other expectantly.

"Well that was fun." Pete says, breaking the tension.

"Haha… Jeez…" I laugh in disbelief.

"Thanks Azzy!" Remus says sarcastically.

"What? It's Sirius' fault! He started drinking my butterbeer!" I argue back in my defense.

"Only cos you drunk out of mine first!" We all continue joking until Remus (obviously) notices the time and we start to head back to Hogwarts.

"I'm goona go take a shower." I say after getting to the common room with clothes sticking to my sides. I notice Evans and her friends in the corner and turn to James. "Thank you for the wonderful date. And the tour." I say while subtly motioning towards Lily. Luckily James took the bait this time.

"No worries, I had a great time too. An amazing time actually." He replies, his eyes twinkling. I supress a scowl and lean up to kiss him on the cheek.

"See you guys later." I turn and walk straight to the dormitory, not even glancing at Evans yet totally aware of her glares.

After I shower and change into some jeans and my black baggy band t-shirt I moisturise my face and go down to the common room while combing my damp hair through. Once down I see Thomas and Dan, the other two boys from their dorm and go up to them.

"Hey, Dan, Thomas, have you seen James, Sirius, Remus and Pete?" I ask cautiously.

"I think they're in our dorm." Thomas replies carelessly.

"Okay, thanks." I answer.

"If you're hoping to make out with James, he was looking egotistic earlier when we saw him." Dan adds, sniggering. I carry on walking to the stairwell, after mentally rolling my eyes and throwing a wave back to him.

"Hey." I say, after knocking on their door and entering without bothering for an answer. They all mutter "hey" back as I go and sit next to Remus.

"Sirius is in the shower if you're wandering." Pete says.

"Meh, people are already talking about us James. I got a load of glares from Evans earlier, plus Thomas and Dan were laughing their annoying heads off." I say.

"Evans was glaring?" Sirius says after entering the room.

"Yeah…" I start to reply in a fully fledged sentence but stop before starting as I see Sirius coming in shirtless. I mentally shake my head and manage to carry on. "I think it's all working amazingly… Sirius, you have obviously forgot to apply burlap essence onto your scars again!" I say frowning at his stretched skin.

He looks back at me, sees my face, sighs, and heads over to his bedside table and starts lazily putting burlap essence over the scars. I smirk knowingly and lean back onto the bed.

"So, while we're waiting for project fate to get underway, I think we should get pranking!" James says.

"I agree, I think the teachers are starting to get suspicious, none of us have had a detention for the last week!" I say smirking.

"Wow, we're becoming goody-two-shoes prefects!" Sirius says, scratching his head.

"Ideas anyone?" I ask, bored stiff.

"I feel like something colourful… maybe directed at everyone instead of just our special Slytherins." James says thoughtfully. "Despite my love for snivellus."

"Yeah, I mean, flooding the Slytherin common room was fun, but only the Slytherins saw our greatness, I want something more global." Sirius agrees.

"But still something that shows our loyalty to Gryffindor!" Pete says proudly.

"Hmm, have you ever thought of the post-it note trick?" I ask. They all look puzzled and shake their heads.

"I was reading a muggle book and some guys got loads of post-it notes and covered their friends car with it. We could cover the great hall with post-its arranged in the shape of a lion?!" I suggest.

"That sounds… awesome!" Remus says after thinking it through.

"Or… since we haven't pranked in a while we could make it even bigger… cover the whole school! I mean, it wasa muggle book, muggles can oly do so much without magic!" Sirius says grinning.

"All in favour?" James says, putting his hand up. Everyone puts their hand up.

"Azzy's on a role!" Remus says grinning. And I grin back.

"Okay, I've calculated the amount of post-its we'll need by dividing thesurface area of the castle by the surface area of the post-its. Millions of post-its will be arriving at the Hogsmead owlery tomorrow afternoon, if we go down while everyone else is at dinner we should be able to get them all back to my room without anyone noticing, and we can go to the kitchens afterwards." I explain. Jeez this was going to be hard. I mean millions of post-its to stick in one night, how did this happen?

"Right, so at 1 am we all rendezvous in the common room to collect post-its. Pete and I will go to the corridors on the west side of the castle. James will do the more secluded and unused corridors on the east side, you should be fine on your own as no one ever goes that way. Sirius and Azzy, you go to all the classrooms and common rooms. You guys need to be as sneaky as possible, we don't want anything like last time happening. After we're all done, we go to the great hall. This will be the most dangerous part, as by this time it could be as late as 4 am, so some crazy people might be waking up. Luckily it will be the fastest as all of us will be there. After, we can go back to our dorms and sleep." Remus says, going through the plan for the 3rd time.

"But be careful, It'll be Monday when you wake up so take a wake-up potion or something like that. Yep, that's all definitely in my head now. We better get going to History of Magic, Binns would kill us if he wasn't a ghost!" I say, grabbing my bag and heading out the door. Boy, I really couldn't wait for this prank!

The next morning I wake up slightly later, aware of the all-nighter coming up. I don't bother to shower, just refresh spray, tinted moisturise, eyeliner on the water line, mascara and lip balm. It being a Sunday I have bacon and eggs for breakfast before being jumped by Leo.

"Zamora! I'm calling an emergency practice in an hour. Make sure Potter and Black are there!" Leo barks at me.

"Yes sir!" I salute him before smirking at his face and jog of back to the common room.

After I get back I gleefully go to their door and slam it open.

"Rise and shine bitches!" I shout loudly into their room. I watch as Sirius rolls over and puts his pillow over his head, Remus sits up groggily, Pete looks up and James… Oh James leaps up to stand on his bed, hits his head. And falls of onto the ground.

"Nice one James, Leo's calling an emergency practice in… 53 minutes!" I say, walking into the room.

"Did you have to wake us up too?" Remus says, sliding out of bed and heading to the bathroom.

"Sorry Remus, Pete, didn't think of that." I say simply. Pete gets up in the t-shirt he was wearing yesterday and quickly tugs the same jeans on as well. I walk over to James and look down on him.

"James, you've been wearing that t-shirt for a week! I mean, I know I wear the same outfit for a couple of days but a week?! Get up! Leo's gonna be waiting." James grumbles on about hating Leo's guts but goes to the bathroom anyway. I look to my last victim and tip toe over to his bed.

"Sirius, come on my little sleepy pie, wake up for Azzy!" I whisper soothingly into his ear. His smile betrays him but he doesn't budge. I see him clutching his covers and have an idea. I quickly pull the duvet from his grip and tip the mattress (which was extremely heavy with Sirius on it) and let Sirius roll to the floor in just hisshorts from yesterday with no shirt. He moans.

"Azzy…" He doesn't budge.

"Come on Sirius, we don't want Leo to wait!" James says, waiting at the door. I start to go deep into thought.

"James, you go eat, I'll handle Sirius, I've already eaten and it's his fault he's not getting up. You guys go." I say, almost mischievously. James sees the glint in my eye and heads out with Remus and Pete following.

"Come on Sirius, don't make this hard for yourself…" I start, crouching down next to him. "I'd hate for something bad to happen to you…" I wait for a second to pounce then instantly start tickling him.

"Nooooo…stop…please…" He starts laughing hysterically, begging me to stop.

"I did tell you, I've learnt your weak spot!" I say, laughing at him while continuing to tickle him on his neck back, and the inside of his elbow.

"Please…" I slowly stop and watch him lie there, recovering. "So are you going to come with me or not?" I ask sweetly smiling at him. He nods slowly and starts to get up.

"I'd love to but… you have to pay!" He says grinning, and before I realised what he was doing he tackled me onto his bed and had started to tickle me. I really don't need to explain the feeling to you. Everyone's been tickled sometime in their life. But boy Sirius really can tickle well.

"Sirius….Please stop!" I struggle to get the words ou and he laughs at my attempt. Just as he slows down slightly to laugh, I seize my chance and flip him around and begin to tickle him again. Unfortunately for me he still had his hands on me.

We started to writhe around until we rolled onto the floor, both trying to tickle while being tickled. Somehow I managed to grab his hands and pin him down onto the floor.

"Sirius, please, can we stop?!" I ask desperately. He looked back at me still grinning and said:

"I think I'd die if we didn't!" I sigh in relief then open my eyes to realise I'm directly on top of him, my body pressed against him. Our eyes lock as he seems to realise the same thing.

"How did we get into this comfy position I wonder…" I murmurs, leaning up slightly, not breaking our eye contact.

"Come on Sirius." I say getting up reluctantly. Oh no, did I just say reluctantly? No I didn't, definitely not… "Here." I add, handing him a t-shirt from his drawer. He pulls it on and we head down to meet the others.

I'm sitting at the dinner table watching James and Sirius stuffing their faces with bacon. I can't help but think about earlier. I mean, Sirius is nice and everything, a great friend, and even god knows he's damn good-looking. But the way he's with girls…Kitty Wills is a prime example. Since I got here, I've seen him flirt with pretty much any girl he thinks is hot. Not pretty, just hot. That's a big enough bad factor for me to stay away from him. Well, in a not just a friend way. But he's so handsome! His hair just lies there perfectly messy from when he woke up. His smoldering eyes, perfect nose…and his careless grin. Jeez that grin! Maybe James was right. But no. He's pretty much my best friend with James and Remus. And I know that'll all break down if anything else happens. At all.


End file.
